It was minus 24 degrees on December 29th, 2004, when Bassie Kargbo arrived in Thunder Bay, Ontario. A refugee from the civil war in Sierra Leone with a master’s degree in both education and international relations, he and his wife Mabinty and four children were able to build a productive and meaningful life. But in a few years, he started to feel there was something missing. He realized that while he had a great life in Canada, there were hundreds of thousands in Sierra Leone who did not.
The civil war, which was caused partly by a fight over blood diamonds, had left 50,000 dead and resulted in the closure of two-thirds of the schools, stranding most of the children without education and a future. In addition, Sierra Leone was divided: those who lived in the past, which he called, “looking away from the sun” and those who were optimistic about the future and saw opportunities, “looking towards the light.”
Bassie decided he had to do something. With the support of his family, he returned to Sierra Leone to see how he could make a difference in the lives of the poor and unfortunate. As he stood gazing out at an empty field (a former refugee camp in Kissi town just outside the capital of Freetown), he had a vision of a school filled with children. “This is what I will do,” he proclaimed, “I will build a school here.”
He had no money but managed to raise it from people in Thunder Bay: The First Presbyterian Church, the Rotary Club of Port Arthur, Nu Vision, Bikes for Humanity and the Global Conscience Circle. Bassie developed the plans, obtained the proper permits, and coordinated the construction. The first building — eight classrooms, a store and staffroom on two acres of land —opened in January, 2010. Children flocked to the school and he added more buildings in 2014, 2020, and 2021.
Back home in Thunder Bay, however, there was bad news. Bassie and Mabinty’s son needed a bone marrow transplant in Toronto due to sickle cell anemia. Fortunately, one of their daughters was compatible. Staying at Ronald McDonald House while his son was having his transplant, Bassie’s non-stop passion to help brought him into contact with a person familiar with building and raising money for African schools who would work with him on his next dream ... a vocational institution where older students could learn computer and culinary skills, tailoring, hairdressing, cosmetology skills and adult literacy.
He started a new charitable foundation, the Canserra Foundation, and through more networking and perseverance, raised enough money from the Rotary Club of Toronto, Madiro, Impact Ventures and others to get the vocational institute started. They began building in September, 2023. The walls were quickly erected by the community and they worked well into the night to get the roof on before the rains started in May. While more money is still needed, the building continues, and the school will be ready for opening in September.
All of this was made possible with the help of loans from supporters, helpful suppliers, small donations from many individuals, Rotary Clubs, and people in Sierra Leone. People told Bassie he could never make this happen, but as he says, he focuses on solutions, not problems!
Through the efforts of unstoppable world-changers like Bassie, extreme poverty around the world has been cut in half during the past 20 years—a fact many people aren’t aware of. In fact, surveys done by the Gapminder Foundation, show that in 1990 the number of people living in extreme poverty was 38%. It is now 8%.
In Sierra Leone, the United Nations reports that deaths in pregnancy and childbirth and beyond are down by 74% since 2000, largely because of prenatal programs for mothers and children. Health care in Sierra Leone is now free for pregnant women, as is contraception. These advances are not unique to Sierra Leone.
Nicolas Kristof, a renowned International Development Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, wrote in the New York Times of a recent discussion he had with the President of Sierra Leone. They concluded that one of the reasons for the widespread ignorance concerning improving Third World health advances is that all the news the public receives are the “doom and gloom” stories about war, food shortages, and climate issues such as drought. There is no good news. The result: the public is exhausted from despair, believing there is nothing they can do to help stem the tide of disaster.
In fact, says Kristof in his article, there is much good news and positive action that has been taken. “We are privileged to live in an age of miracles, the blind can see,” (cataract and trichiasis surgery), “the lame can walk,” (club foot corrections, hips and knee surgeries), “and maladies like leprosy, polio, fistula, guinea worm and river blindness are receding. This progress is as ‘real’ — in fact, in many ways more so, as all the perils that make the headlines.”
The reduction in poverty is a result of advances in people’s welfare made over many years. These include improvements in education and health care, improved political stability and human rights, expanded infrastructure programmes, advances in technology, removal of landmines, more safe water, fewer wars, and better food security. Conservation and care of our planet ... intimately connected, we now know, with social justice … all help to move us to a better place.
Good news can inspire us to act and create hope. Fortunately, there are people like Bassie who, despite setbacks, negativism and doom-saying, know how to make improvements and direct their energy and money into improving the lives of others.
HUGE progress has been made and will continue.
Chris Snyder is the author of several books and several hundred articles on personal finance, Chris’ most recent book "Creating Opportunities-A Volunteer's Memoir" describes a lifetime of volunteer experiences, much of it as an active member of the Rotary Club of Toronto and on many not-for-profit boards. Chris is past chair of the Canadian Landmine Foundation, founding chair/current chair of HIP (Honouring Indigenous Peoples) and the Trudeau Centre of Peace, Conflict and Justice as well as past board member of CUSO and the Nature Conservancy of Canada. He organizes and runs hands-on school building trips to the developing world and is the recipient of many volunteer and community service awards, among them the Paul Harris Fellowship Award, the Queen's Gold and Diamond Jubilee Awards, the Rotary Service-Above-Self Award and the Governor General's Sovereign Award for Volunteering. His latest book, “Good News in A Crazy World,” will be published by Civil Sector Press in 2024.
